injury prevention

“The Constant” in Pilates

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Becky Phares, PMA®-CPT is a Polestar Pilates Graduate, Practitioner and contributor to the Polestar Life Weekly Blog.  With more than 10 years of teaching Becky teaches at her studio The Body Initiative Pilates Studio in Lafayette, Louisiana.  Find Becky and her Studio on Facebook: The body Initiative Pilates Studio and Instagram @the_body_initiative_ .

“The Constant”

I have a new theme… “The Constant” . This term shows itself in multiple different ways throughout society. The dictionary defines it as occurring continuously over a period of time or unchanged through time and space. In math constants are parts of algebraic expressions that do not change. In science it is referred to as properties that do not change. If you were to google the word constant you may come up with: a constant burden, constant bickering or constant chatter. Constant is even a name given to babies; in 2016 it was ranked #16,656 for popularity for girls and #13,558 for boys. But what in the world does that have to do with Pilates? Well, it shows up EVERYWHERE in our system. Let’s take a look: In the exercise the hundred, the shape of your spine and legs stay constant as your arms pump. In foot work your spine stays in a constant shape as your hips and knees flex and extend, even though it is moving with the carriage. In rolling like a ball, the whole shape of the body is constant even though the shape changes orientation. But why is it important? I feel that this gives some of my clients feedback if I give them “the constant.” For example during long stretch the spine and pelvis stay constant. The first part of long stretch, the plank position, is fairly easy to keep the shape. However, once you stretch your body back and your arms forward, your spine and pelvis want to change. Because of where gravity is sitting, I get a lot of people who like to create a bigger, lordotic curve in this exercise. It’s understandable because the body goes in the path of least resistance. So could an instructor benefit from cueing the constant? Absolutely! It could help the client understand that the shape does not change even though the spine is in a greater challenge. The constant may change orientation, like tendon stretch and thigh stretch. Sometimes the constant stays in the same orientation but moves along with the carriage such as in stomach massage and feet in straps. Other times the constant stays absolutely stable in space and time but progresses in difficulty because of outside forces, such as leg pull front and chest lift. **see pictures below So is this a new theory? Absolutely not! I’m just sharing different terms that I am currently using with my clients. I like this word/concept because regular people walking through my door easily comprehend it. Other relatable terms are dissociation and stability. We all use what works for each individual client. Try this on and see if it works for you.

**The constant is shown in white**

Exercises that the constant changes orientation to gravity:

Thigh Stretch
Thigh Stretch
Tendon Stretch
Tendon Stretch

Exercises that the constant stays in the same orientation to gravity but moves with the carriage:

Feet in Straps
Feet in Straps
Stomach Massage

Exercises that the constant stays the same in space but grow more difficult through the series:

Leg Pull Front
Chest Lift
Find Becky and her Studio on Facebook: The body Initiative Pilates Studio and Instagram @the_body_initiative_ . Like our Blog? Subscribe to the Newsletter and be the first in the know!

Injury Prevention & Pilates Teacher Training

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Katrina Hawley NCPT, is a Polestar Educator and graduate of the Polestar Pilates Rehabilitation Program.
This morning I was working with a client who was experiencing shoulder pain due to swimming.  She asked me, “will my shoulder pain go away if I stop swimming?” I responded, “maybe, but do you really want to stop swimming?” She said no, and we then started the process of figuring out what was going on with her shoulder.  We spent the next hour using Pilates as a tool for problem solving. Her body’s motion was our research. We explored movement of the shoulder in different relationships to gravity. We moved through closed chain movements and open chain movements to increase proprioception, and we also progressed from exercises that assisted the shoulder to exercises that added gentle resistance.  But that’s not all, because our shoulder girdle moves in relationship to the rest of the body, we also looked at the thoracic and cervical spine as well as fascial connections throughout the entire torso.  Pilates became our method of change, and not only did my client’s shoulder movement change, but her entire emotional life was improved. Pilates is often thought of as a set of exercises, but if you attend the right Pilates teacher training, it becomes so much more.  At Polestar Education, Pilates becomes an avenue for critical as well as creative thinking and problem solving. The Polestar Pilates Comprehensive Teacher Training helps teachers learn how to see the body in front of them and then design a program based on their findings.  Pilates becomes a collaboration between two people instead of a script read by an instructor.  The Polestar Pilates Teacher learns how to cue movement using imagery and tactile cues as well as the timbre and rhythm of the voice.  All of this has the goal of creating a positive movement experience. What is the result of the Polestar Pilates curriculum?  Pilates teachers that are able to empower their clients to make change in the function of their lives.  Pilates teachers that can help an athlete enhance performance. Pilates teachers that can help their clients make an ache or pain disappear for more than just one session.  Pilates teachers that don’t have to say, “yeah it might be best if you stop swimming.” I love teaching the Polestar Pilates Comprehensive Series.  I get to see the “aha” moments when a teacher realizes, “oh there’s more than one way to do things.”  As students are mastering the different exercises and concepts, their bodies begin to change before my very eyes.  They tell me stories about how their life improves with greater movement, and then they tell me the story of how their heart grows when they are able to empower someone else.  I love teaching Polestar Pilates teachers because I know that more people will be able to keep swimming as long as they want!
Katrina Hawley is a Certified Pilates Teacher by the Pilates Method Alliance. She is also a graduate of the Polestar Pilates Rehabilitation Program. Katrina studied Somatic Movement approaches under Janis Pforsich, Aliza Shapiro, Charlotte Wile, Irene Dowd and Martha Eddy. From 2005-2010 Katrina was on the Board of Directors for the International Somatic Movement Education & Therapy Association (ISMETA) and now continues to be an ISMETA Registered Somatic Movement Educator (RSME). Katrina teaches Laban Movement Analysis and Pilates at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School in the Dance Division. Previously, Katrina was the co-director of Hawley Martin Dance (2001-2006) and she holds her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Temple University. She currently co-owns The Pilates Place in Hadley. For more information on the upcoming Comprehensive Pilates training in Hadley, MA or in a city near you, click here.

Runners Knee: The Science Behind Injury and Prevention

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Runners Knee – Discover the science behind the injury and how to prevent and treat PFPS.

Many of our online followers have been asking us about patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS), more commonly known as runner’s knee.  What is it?  What exercises can prevent it?  What exercises can treat it?  With the abundance of conflicting information on the internet, finding answers to these questions can feel like a wild goose chase. We called on Juan Nieto, Polestar educator and co-founder/master trainer of Runity, to shed some light on the science behind runner’s knee and what you can do to prevent and treat it. Among runners, lower extremity injuries are very common– up to 79.3% of runners will experience these injuries, about half of which occur in the knee (Van Gent et al., 2007).  Patellofemoral pain syndrome, also called anterior knee pain syndrome or runner’s knee, describes an overuse disorder that occurs in the patellofemoral region and results in pain behind or around the anterior knee.  The causes of PFPS can vary widely due to the complex interactions between intrinsic anatomic and external training factors (Collado et al., 2010).  In other words, runner’s knee describes the symptoms of a painful knee injury, not the cause of the injury.  The cause is subjective and depends on the runner’s anatomy, strategy, and training. Searching the internet to find specific exercises for your runner’s knee will produce a mixed bag of results due to the subjective nature of the injury.  Depending on whether your injury is associated with vastus medialis/vastus lateralis imbalance, hamstring tightness, or iliotibial tract tightness, the best exercises to treat it will vary.   What can you do to prevent runner’s knee?  According to Juan, there’s no standard set of exercises to prevent the injury since it depends on the person and their movement strategy.  When choosing exercises, it’s important to pick exercises that bring relief and do not flare up pain.  The only true method of prevention is to make sure that the tissue capacity of the runner is bigger than the workload.  In other words, the runner has to be fit enough to run the distance they want to run and allow the appropriate resting periods in between to let the tissues recover.  Additionally, technique retraining could reduce the amount of ground reaction forces that the runner is receiving, meaning they can run the same volume but reduce the workload for the tissues. If you already have runner’s knee, what can you do to treat it?  Again, there’s no magic routine to treat the condition because causes vary.  The best thing you can do is see a movement specialist who can conduct a proper assessment and use sound clinical reasoning to design an exercise plan, test it out, and modify it as necessary to settle on a final selection of exercises that create gradual, positive adaptation (strengthening) without irritation.  If you have runner’s knee, it’s important to remember to avoid irritative exercises and to try to resist running too much too soon.  Most importantly, KEEP MOVING!  Movement heals and having positive movement experiences throughout the body will quicken the healing process for your injury. Want to learn more about efficient, pain-free running, try RUNITY